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"What happened to the stars?... What happened to the stars?!" - Rygel
Episode 4.06, "Natural Election"
Written by Sophie C. Hopkins
Directed by Ian Watson
Air Date: 7.19.02
Crichton counts down as he stares off into space. The rest of the crew waits anxiously. Even Scorpius, from his cell, listens attentively. But then, nothing. Crichton, perhaps a tad embarrassed and dejected, starts to walk away. But as he does, wouldn't you know it - a wormhole appears exactly where he said it would. And the ever-turned-on-by-a-nerd Sikozu is impressed.
For two minutes I was really digging this episode, but it was pretty much downhill from there. Crichton's good mood is short lived as a gigantic space plant attacks Moya, making everything go black. Yes, even the stars. (See Rygel's melodramatic quote above) Now I have nothing against stand alone or bottle episodes. In fact, my all-time favorite "Crackers Don't Matter" is an example of how great one can be. But a killer plant from outer space? Surely they could have done better.
With such a lacking primary storyline, this episode is only salvaged by pretty good secondary and tertiary ones. Aeryn initially wants to talk to John about the pregnancy. That gets delayed, however, when the plant attacks. But she later ends up telling Chiana, which everyone knows is a mistake. Even though she asks her to keep it on the DL, Pip blabs to D'Argo. Then D'Argo confronts John about the whole mess before Aeryn even has a chance to, and gives him the really bad news -- Aeryn isn't even sure who the father is. PK's apparently have a pretty weird method of conception, and the bottom line is any guy Aeryn's been with for the past seven cycles is potentially the father. D'Argo warns John that no matter what, he's gonna get hurt.
Amidst all this, Sikozu is developing a bond with Scorpius of all people. This is alarming to both John and Chiana, who witness the two consorting at different times. And there's also that mess about who will be Moya's captain. At the beginning of the episode, Rygel - believe it or not - is captain. Of course, it's only temporary. Until they can vote on the matter, they are simply taking turns. But Rygel sulks through most of this episode since Moya came under fire while he was in charge. Goes to show why he would not be a good choice I guess.
But who would be? Well, these days the crew consists of Crichton, D'Argo, Chiana, Aeryn, Noranti, Sikozu, Rygel and Scorpius. (although he's more of a prisoner at this point) So with seven crewmembers allowed to vote and Pilot himself voting, there's eight votes total. And the results are... (drumroll)... one vote Rygel, one vote Noranti, one vote Aeryn, one vote Scorpius, and four votes... D'Argo?
Okay, before the vote even took place I thought this whole captain idea was the worst single development in the show's history. Seriously. I hate, hate, hate it. What set 'scape apart from other ship shows was the lack of a captain. Obviously, that's not the only thing, but it was one of them. So alright, I'm thinking they're finally gonna give Crichton the nod as leader since he's been the unspoken leader for over two seasons now anyway. Fine. I can live with that. But then again, this is Farscape, and they like to shake things up... so maybe give the captaincy to Chiana. Somebody you wouldn't normally suspect. But of all the people on board, D'Argo? I'm sorry, I like him as a character, but he makes for an awful leader. We've seen countless times that his decision making is dominated by his tendency towards rage, and when it comes down to it, he's really not very smart.
I suppose what makes me the most upset is that D'Argo won in a landslide. It's not like it was 4-3 D'Argo over John, but John got zero votes? Come on. Not to mention, if you do the math, D'Argo voted for himself. Does that really fill you with confidence? (by the way, I doubt Sikozu won herself any points with her vote...)
Oh well. As I write this, I've already seen ahead a couple of episodes and this whole captain angle doesn't really come into play very much. So let's just hope it stays that way.
By the way, the episode ends with Crichton walking away from Aeryn for the second week in a row, as he tells her to come back when she's got things figured out. Talk about role reversals.
So like all Farscape episodes, this one had some redeeming aspects to it, but overall, my least favorite of the new season. Simply... lacking.
Episode Rating: 6 out of 10
- Rafael "Ultra Magnus" Pujals
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